The Cardinal Sin of Communication
And How You Can Avoid It
Friday, Feb 24th — Greetings from Hamburg, Germany
Hey friend👋
Today I’m going to help you avoid the cardinal sin of communication.
I’ll teach you a simple change you can make to dramatically improve the effectiveness of your communication.
The Painful Way I Learned This Framework
About a year ago, I wanted to become a copywriter.
If you don’t know, a copywriter is someone who sells with the written word— a salesman in print. I was attracted to copywriting for the opportunity to:
Master a cool skill
Work from anywhere in the world
Get paid per value created (not hourly)
And, most importantly, because I stumbled upon an interesting character named Craig Clemens:
Craig is a billion dollar copywriter.
And so I figured, if I wanted to become one myself, why not learn from the best? In April, I applied to his company twice, but didn’t hear anything back.
Later, inspired by Jack Butcher’s Permissionless Apprenticeship framework, I thought up a genius plan to get Craig’s attention, or at least what I thought was a genius plan…
My Plan to Get an “In” with Craig
Because I had listened to every podcast with Craig, I knew his life story intimately. So I decided to write 22 year old Craig a letter and sell him on turning his life around. Then I would:
DM Craig the letter
He would recognize my genius
I’d become his apprentice at Golden Hippo
Well it didn’t go that way….
And it wasn’t because Craig didn’t like the letter. Actually, Craig told me the letter was “great.” My plan failed because I ignored the cardinal sin of communication.
I Assumed Craig Could Read My Mind
I simply sent Craig the letter waited for him to offer me a job.
How should Craig know I want a job?
How should Craig know I’m not a stalker?
And that’s how I learned, if you are communicating to trigger action, be dead clear in calling for it.
You Must Call for Action to Get It
When you want your reader listener or coworker to do something, tell them exactly what you want them to do.
Clarity wins.
We Know This From YouTube
This framework might sound too simplistic and unimportant until you consider the last time you watched a YouTube video.
I guarantee you the last time you watched a YouTube video, someone asked you to:
Like
Comment
Subscribe to the channel
Why do creators do this when 99% of people find it annoying?
Frankly, because it works. They wouldn’t continue to do it if it wasn’t effective.
The Same is True for Twitter threads.
At the end of every effective Twitter thread is a call to action:
Here’s how to make an effective call to action:
Principles of an Effective Call to Action
Clear
Simple
The next immediate step
Your audience needs to know exactly what you want from them.
No guessing games.
To recap, the cardinal sin of communication is to assume other people can read your mind.
And so, if your goal is to trigger action, be direct in calling for it.
Quite impressive and simplistic.
Very impressive and so true. I don't always do it well but I am working on it. Thanks for the reminder.